Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 1179: WWI: Siege of the Americas (3): Unexpected development

14th May 1700.

Hawaii, Akhand Bharatiya Empire.

Hawaii served as the main transit hub and the most critical logistics base of the Bharatiya Empire in the Pacific, making its port enormous and its size comparable to the empire’s only trade-free port, Nakavaram. Even so, it was still not large enough to dock all the warships of the Bharatiya Navy. As a result, many vessels remained anchored offshore, floating in the nearby waters around the port and across other islands in the archipelago.

The army units that had travelled aboard the warships disembarked in Hawaii, standing by for further orders whenever deployment became necessary. All naval officers had taken their posts, and the initial checks had been completed. Every sailor was aboard, along with medics, logistics personnel, and even cooks. All guns were armed, final inspections were carried out, and weather conditions, including wind speed and direction, were carefully studied.

It was a bright and cosy morning in Hawaii, perfect for sunbathing, surfing, and carefree leisure, but for the Bharatiya Empire, it marked the dawn of war. Preparations were complete, and the navy stood ready to set sail.

Agni, wearing a striped naval uniform with the emblem of Ashoka Chakra on his cap, the insignia of the Devaraya family on his chest, and wearing black-tinted glasses, walked towards the ship that would be hosting him.

Surprisingly, it was not the Maharaja Ramachandra class battleship, the most advanced battleship the empire had ever built, nor even the Ramachandra class battleship. Instead, Agni chose the Kathmandu class military transporter, a ship that, even to this day, remained the largest and most complex wooden vessel ever constructed by the empire. Weighing over 4,500 tonnes, it had been built for the sole purpose of enduring and taming the turbulent Pacific Ocean.

"Could you please reconsider your choice, Your Highness? I strongly recommend that you board the Maharaja Ramachandra class battleship instead. It is far safer than the Kathmandu class," Admiral Vikramaditya Singh Rajput said, concern evident in his eyes.

Agni did not hesitate and shook his head at once.

"The Maharaja Ramachandra class and the Ramachandra class battleships are both crucial to this war. They are the swords and shields of our fleet. I cannot occupy one for personal safety, knowing it would reduce the fleet’s combat capability, even if only by a small margin."

"On the other hand, the Kathmandu class will remain in the rear, acting as a floating logistics base and not participating in direct combat."

Seeing that the admiral still looked worried, Agni smiled and added, "Don’t worry about its safety. In some cases, the Kathmandu class, with its compartmentalised design, might actually be harder to sink than a normal battleship. Not to mention, the Europeans would be far more desperate to strike Hawaii than to target the Kathmandu class."

"In a way, its position is much safer than anything on the battlefield."

Vikramaditya still felt slightly unsettled, but in the end, he could find no flaw in the logic. He finally relented and stopped pressing the matter.

"In that case, I will take my leave, Your Highness," he said, saluting before turning to depart.

Agni watched the admiral’s retreating back, then shook his head and continued climbing aboard. In truth, he had a far more devious plan in mind. He intended to leak his own location to the enemy through spies, using himself as bait so the Europeans would attempt to capture him and use him as a hostage to force an end to the war, all while the empire’s navy lay in wait to trap them.

However, he knew such an idea would meet fierce resistance from the commanding officers, so he chose not to voice it. Even so, he had not completely abandoned the thought. If an unexpected situation arose, or if the Europeans uncovered that Hawaii was a trap, he would use himself as bait. He was confident that his presence alone would be enough to draw the enemy wherever he wanted.

Just as Agni climbed onto the ship and stood on the deck, a series of fireworks flew up from the farthest corner of the port.

His brows furrowed, and quickly deciphered what the message said in his mind, but as he continued to decipher, his heartbeat began to rise, and when the firework stopped, and the deciphering was complete, his eyes widened, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

"Quickly enquire if the intelligence is accurate," he urged the communications officer.

The communications officer did not hesitate. He swiftly rushed to the telegram line linking the various warships, sent the message, and waited for a response. Only moments later, a reply came through, and he quickly wrote down the contents. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Agni, looking at the communications officer’s face that showed a look of disbelief, understood that the news was very likely to be true, and sure enough, looking at the response received, he was right.

’What are they thinking?’ he couldn’t help but wonder. Before the war began, the navy’s research and analysis wing had run multiple simulations to predict how the enemy might react or attack. Among those scenarios, there was indeed one where the Europeans took the initiative and launched an assault on Hawaii, but the probability had been so low that it was barely considered a real possibility.

Now, however, it seemed he had underestimated them, or perhaps overestimated them.

Or else why would they take the initiative to round up all their forces and send themselves to the door of doom? While he thought the campaign would be a long one that would last several months, the enemy actually came with their fleet directly to besiege Hawaii. He no longer has words to describe the enemy.

"Your Highness, the admiral is on the line."

Agni nodded and held the handset, bringing it closer to his mouth, "Go ahead, admiral."

"Your Highness, several reconnaissance vessels brought back the same news. It is pretty much guaranteed, so how do you suggest moving forward?"

"Well, since the enemy has come to our door, all our previous plans have been disrupted, so there is nothing much we can do other than engage them head-on, but Admiral, why do you think the Europeans made such a foolish decision?"

There was silence for a while until the voice was heard once again, "I personally think the Europeans used a very good strategy, your Highness." The response caught Agni by surprise, but he did not interrupt Vikramaditya and continued to listen, waiting for his reasoning. "If I am not mistaken, they should already know by the fact that so many warships have gathered here that we are going to attack them. They should have learnt their lesson from the battle in the Atlantic Fleet and decided to take the initiative to catch us off guard."

"In fact, Your Highness, their actions only seem foolish from our point of view. But if we look at it from their perspective, it actually makes a lot of sense. Instead of spreading their forces thin across a coastline more than 10,000 kilometres long, they are choosing to concentrate their strength and strike at the enemy’s core, especially since they already know our main base is Hawaii."

"From their perspective, if they can encircle Hawaii and cut off our supply lines, that alone would count as half a victory."

"Besides, your Highness, I’m not sure if they know the capabilities of the Maharaja Ramachandra class battleship, making them mistaken that they are only going up against 5 full metal battleships."

Agni was silent for a long time. Yes, now that Vikramaditya explained it, everything made sense. The width of the coast is so large that it is a problem even for the Bharatiya Navy, so it can be imagined the trouble for the enemy when it comes to reinforcing their fleet.

"What is their strength like?" Agni asked, "Is it still the same?"

"It’s unconfirmed, Your Highness. Each reconnaissance ship is reporting different numbers, ranging from 500 to 1,000 vessels, with the data being highly inconsistent. Even so, these figures don’t make much sense at all. The Europeans previously had limited naval presence along the western coast of the Americas, so it’s very unlikely their strength could have grown this quickly.

"The most probable explanation is that they are using a large number of repurposed merchant ships to inflate their fleet size."

Agni was left in thought, and suddenly he got an idea. The image of a hot air balloon came to his mind, but feeling the wind hitting his skin and ruffling his clothes, he swiftly threw away the idea just as quickly as it appeared. The winds are simply too unpredictable to use that tactic.

The fleet began to rearrange and reposition, ready to take on the enemy head-on. A few hours later, more intelligence reached Agni.

"We have confirmed intelligence that the enemy has over 800 ships, your Highness, and like we suspected, most of the vessels are simply there to make up the numbers; actual warships are only around 300, among which 60 are battleships. But it is confirmed that even in those, most of them are old models that have been retired in other fleets."

"In that case, let’s make it a short one."

"My thoughts exactly, your Highness."

An evil glint flashed in his eye.